To Never Descry
by Capital WHY
Summary: Barry discovers that things don't always go the way you plan them to . . . One-shot, Twinleafshipping.


**A/n **_I don't own Pokemon._

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He was never one for noticing the small things. He was always moving too quickly.

"Can't you slow down?" she would ask in exasperation. He would shoot her a smile and chime,

"C'mon, Dawn! We've got places to be!"

He didn't know when it had started. He only realized it once he was too deep in to climb out. Perhaps it had been a flash of her eyes; an accidental brush of hands; a word whispered. Whatever it had been, it had captured his heart so securely, that he couldn't pull out, even if he'd wanted to.

She always noticed the small things. She would be hurt if he had forgotten, off-hand, to say good morning. She would smile brightly when he held a door open for her. If he took her coat for her, he was her new hero.

'_So how can she not notice this?' _he asked himself. _'How can she not notice me?'_

He wasn't good at explaining things. He'd tried, once or twice, to admit how he felt, but when her eyes would look into his, he would mess everything up and run off in embarrassment, pretending he had something to do. Every time she said his name, he had to look away for fear that she'd notice the redness in his cheeks.

It had taken him weeks to build up the courage to finally tell her. "Let's see . . . I'll say, 'Dawn, I've gotta tell you something . . .' No, that stinks!" He ran his hand through his hair. "This has gotta be the most hopeless thing ever. Why am I even bothering?" Something in his subconscious pricked him at those words.

"What am I saying? I'm not gonna give in to some feeling. Nope. I'm gonna beat this." He resolved his mind; tomorrow, he would tell her the truth.

He woke up at the crack of dawn, hastily got ready, and was out of the house before six. Barry knew he couldn't just burst into her house. He would just have to wait.

And wait he did.

It was ten o'clock sharp when she exited her house. She hadn't seen Barry all week. "Barry! I was just on my way to see you."

"Really? Me too! I mean, uh, well," he shook off his nervousness. "I have to talk to you, Dawn!"

Dawn smiled. "What a coincidence! I have to tell you something too. Do you wanna go first, or should I?"

Barry grinned. "Ladies first."

Dawn was excellent at explaining things. Too excellent. "Well, you know that guy we met last year? Lucas?"

Lucas. Yes, he knew Lucas. He'd hung out with him every once in a while, even though the kid was kind of boring. Why did she want to talk about _him?_

"Yeah, what about him?"

Dawn beamed at her friend and took his hand. "Well, we're dating! You see, ever since I'd met him, I've thought we were perfect for each other, and he thought so too."

Barry was frozen in place. He made no reply. "Well? What do you think?"

There were a lot of things that Barry thought. The first one was why on Earth did they ever have to meet that guy? The second was why hadn't Barry seen this coming? The last one: why hadn't he told her about how he felt sooner?

"I think . . ." his mind shuffled around those thoughts. None of them were good responses.

"I love you," he whispered inaudibly. There was a pause. "I'm so happy for you!" he added more loudly, but certainly not up to his normal volume.

Dawn looked concerned. "Barry? Are you all right? What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

Oh, drat. _Now _what was he gonna say? "Well, um . . . I was gonna . . . tell you . . . that, um . . ." He sighed. "That I'm going away for a while."

"Really? Where to?"

"Oh, I dunno. Around. Re-battle some people, I guess. Maybe give Hoenn a try."

"Wow," the girl breathed. "So you're planning on going away for a long time, huh? When?"

"Now." It was a sudden, impulsive decision, but Barry would not be swayed.

"Oh!" Those words had caught her by surprise. "Well, I hope you have fun!" She was about to hug him goodbye, but he wrenched out of her grip and ran back to his house.

"Barry!"

He didn't understand the world. Nothing seemed fair. He ignored her voice and kept running. Soon, he came to his house. "Mom, I'm gonna go off on another adventure! I promise to call every night!" He dashed through, grabbing the things he'd need quickly.

"What? Um, okay, Barry, but-"

"Sorry gotta go!" With that, he gave his mother a quick hug and sprinted out the door, colliding with Dawn.

"B-Barry, what's going on?"

He couldn't help it. He pulled her up. "Maybe you'll know someday."

He gazed into her eyes once more. And ran. Faster than he ever had, he ran. He pretended that she wasn't calling after him with tears in her eyes. He pretended that it didn't matter that he wasn't going to see her for a very long time. He pretended that his heart hadn't just been shredded.

She always noticed the little things. But it was the big things that she would never descry.

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**A/n **_According to dictionary dot com, descry is the word of the day. (1/3/11) So I would like to thank dictionary dot com for the inspiration for this story._


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